Ray's Curious Things

Building a Pan Flute Kite

Curmudgeon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:06:05 +0000

First the pieces have to be cut out. Each Tube is made of 2 pieces. The bottom and top. There are typically 7 tubes in a normal panflute.

Here are the pieces and colors I chose.

Lots of fabric for a 4 foot kite

Then the sewing began ending with the burrito of death…

The burrito of death awaits!

The unwrapping begins!

When you unwrap the burrito!

Now I just need to work out some tails for it!

Ray

4th of July kite fly in LaPorte Texas

Curmudgeon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:58:14 +0000

The kites of the 4th and the wonderful day we all shared…

Ray

I finish the quad kite and fly it on the 4th!

Curmudgeon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:56:09 +0000

My kite finally done and flying!

I love flying this thing!

Ray

I have begun working on another kite

Curmudgeon — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:01:19 +0000

I am going to build the Freedom 2000 quad kite to learn Revolution style flying on a kite of my own construction. I am also going to build a Panflute kite of 4feet long tubes as a test bed. If I like it enough I will move on to a 12.5 foot panflute kite for my showy side.

If not then I will probably build a large flowform or big sled for lifting line laundry and large tails.

I cut it all out. Now to get it sewn up.

Ray

The kite arch has flown every weekend for weeks!

Curmudgeon — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 06:43:20 +0000

I have had to do more repairs than I expected due to high wind damage sustained but the arch has proven itself over and over again to be a sturdy and enjoyable little flyer. I am glad I built it.

I love this little kite arch!

Ray

An Arch of Kites – Made by me

Curmudgeon — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:13:07 +0000

Memorial Day kite arch I made and flew!

I made this arch and it flew wonderfully. The wind was higher than it should have been, so the arch got a little rough around the edges, but it flew for hours, until I took it down!

This was a success and I will be expanding it soon.
Ray

So they told me to go fly a Kite and I did…

Curmudgeon — Mon, 17 May 2010 23:51:08 +0000

I went out and bought a nice parafoil call the Thunderfoil 1.7 and fell in love with power stunt kiting. Then I saw that there were four line precision kites and I was interested but that stuff is expensive. I needed to learn to make a kite and this involved sewing so one weak and used sewing machine later and I am off to the races!

First off, for all of you out there thinking to yourself,”making kties is easy and takes no time at all” I have some news for you. Making kites is a Pain in the ass. Assuming of course you want something that will fly decently. Straight seams, double folded hems, 3 step zig zag stitches, and a host of thread jamming, fabric slipping and stretching, fun later and you might be able to have something like this.

This is a nice kite despite the ugly seams.

Sewing a kite takes patience. LOTS of patience. My next two will be a bit better constructed because I learned a host of things “Not TO DO” which means they will fly better I am sure. This model doesnt fly very stable without tails. If you want more information, go to kitebuilder.com and take a look around. Register for the forums and starting making the sky nicer to look at!

Ray

Change is coming

Curmudgeon — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:15:20 +0000

Rays curious things will be changing soon. Stay tuned!

Google stirs the pot with its own phone!

Curmudgeon — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:47:45 +0000

Google is making a phone. Details are sketchy but it looks like it will probably end up with T-mobile, but I have seen no official word on it. Google OS fragmentation is becoming an issue as users of the G1, MyTouch and Motorola Cliq have begun clamouring for the new Android 2.0. Cliq users are still waiting for 1.6! Meanwhile Verizons Droid is the big Android 2.0 phone.
After reading some of the forums for the various phones I can say with little reservaton that Motorola and Tmobile had better get it in gear for Cliq and G1 users. These earlier adopters are being left behind in an OS that should only get better with time. Of course there are those out there that are rooting their phones and using other versions of Android but the chance of bricking an expensive phone will dissuade most from even trying that.
As a new Cliq user I only miss the newer version of the App Market from 1.6 on my old G1. It seems to be fine otherwise, however, as the OS become more energy efficient and the code adds functionality to the phones, I will begin to feel pretty disgruntled if my phone continues to be ignored in favor of the other phones in the Android stable. How about a little love for the Cliq and G1 out there!?

Wordpress Auto Update!

Curmudgeon — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:49:56 +0000

My hosting service allows the auto update of wordpress and wordpress has finally developed a decent auto update system! I am completely satisfied with it now. In the past it was a disaster and they started releasing more updates constantly requiring disasters. Now it is a simple one or two button operation and you are done. Thanks guys!

ps-its about flipping time!